The area
Gargano National Park protects a promontory covered with coastal forests of pines and holm oaks and with almond, orange, and olive cultivation. The flat and sandy coast in the north gradually becomes precipitous, with steep calcareous coastal cliffs overlooking little coves of extremely fine sand, very busy during the summer. In the inland areas, the vegetation of Foresta Umbra dominates the promontory with beech trees and pines: it is the heart of the National Park.
The luxuriant vegetation of Gargano – probably the most thriving in Southern Italy – has drawn the interest of researchers studying plants and forests, for two main reasons: first of all, for its great abundance which makes the promontory easily recognizable from a distance; secondly, because coming down from the north of the Peninsula, it represents the first and complete example of Mediterranean vegetation. In fact, the flora of Gargano includes about 2,300 vascular species, that is over 33 per cent of the Italian vegetal species, making this territory one of the most interesting “floristic districts” of Italy.
Gargano Promontory, stretching out into the South Adriatic Sea for about 60 km, is on average 30 km wide and covers an area of about 210,000 hectares. Its highest summit is Monte Calvo (1,065 m), followed by Monte Nero (1,012 m), and Monte Spigno (1,008 m). Clearly separated from the mountains of the Apennines by the vast plateau of Tavoliere delle Puglie, this unique territory is characterized by a very heterogeneous climate changing according to altitude and exposure: from a Mediterranean climate with very dry summers in the coastal stations (550 mm of annual rainfall) to a Mediterranean climate with significant rainfall during the autumn and the winter in the stations of the elevated inland areas (1,200 mm in Foresta Umbra).
In addition, climate is heavily influenced by exposure, because the cold winter winds coming from the north cause drops in temperatures and significant humidity (moisture in the air), to the extent that the Mediterranean vegetation only covers a narrow strip of land in the northern section of the promontory, while the deciduous forests almost reach the sea level. In the south, forests only grow at higher altitudes, and holm oak forests can be found from 600-700 m above sea level.
The Park protects an outstanding concentration of different habitats: from steep and rocky coasts to the warm and deep narrow valleys of the southern slope, rich in rare and endemic species of plants and animals, to the inland beech forests with their centuries-old specimens and the Mediterranean Aleppo pine forests with trees older than 500 years.
Foresta Umbra is what remains of the primeval and thousand-year forest of Gargano Promontory and it is the most representative environment of its inland areas. Despite the devastation and insane deforestation carried out in the past three centuries, which stripped the forest bare on the hills and mountains of Gargano, Foresta Umbra has preserved an almost intact luxuriant vegetation with a rich variety of tree species, herbaceous and shrub formations. The explanations for the meaning of the name “Foresta Umbra” are lost in time and all of them, even though acceptable, are not sufficiently proven and do not provide a clear interpretation of the name. According to someone, the name Umbra would derive from the ancient tribe of the Umbri (a prehistoric tribe belonging to the Celtic group), who inhabited the forest and carried out raids against the nomadic shepherds living in the more fertile plains of the promontory; according to others, it could derive from “shady place” (the Italian word “ombra” means “shade”).
